General cycling issues (Is Toronto bike friendly?)

[chrisw]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1854344024338858068

Little known fact - the filming office has always set the standard for ensuring that film crews prioritize #BikeTO users.

They worked with us to develop great guidelines that they enforce.

A huge proportion of their crew arrive on set by bicycle.

 

[kotsy]

CBC News Toronto :

Fact-checking claims from Ontario that only 1.2% of Torontonians commute by bike​

I need to stop watching videos like this because it always raises my blood pressure when Doug or Prabmeet comes on and talk rubbish.

 

[evandyk]

Given Ford’s anti-bike crusade, I think Toronto should legalize the following commonplace practices as it’s free and would encourage safer cycling

-allow cycling on sidewalks (yielding to pedestrians)

The last one is more important for low density suburbs, and may need to exclude e-bikes

I think the blanket prohibition on biking on sidewalks has to end. Maybe you have to redesignate them as multi-use trails or whatever, but in a street like this, the appropriate place for a bike is not the car lane, it's the sidewalk.

 

[turbanplanner]

I think the blanket prohibition on biking on sidewalks has to end. Maybe you have to redesignate them as multi-use trails or whatever, but in a street like this, the appropriate place for a bike is not the car lane, it's the sidewalk.

View attachment 610433

No clue why they haven't done what Mississauga did!

 

[81-717]

I think the blanket prohibition on biking on sidewalks has to end. Maybe you have to redesignate them as multi-use trails or whatever, but in a street like this, the appropriate place for a bike is not the car lane, it's the sidewalk.

Luckily it's not something that is frequently enforced (yet). While I myself wouldn't take the sidewalk for my entire route (even on a street like that), there are times when I might hop on/off the sidewalk for a short distance, like getting around a car parked in the bike lane or construction in the bike lane (though in those instances I'd usually just merge onto the main road), or when my destination is on the opposite side of the street and traffic conditions allow me to quickly cross the road and hop onto the opposite sidewalk (or even opposite bike lane if there are no oncoming bikes) to bike the remaining few 10s of meters to my destination.

And of course, bikes are not cars, so a bike on the sidewalk ≠ car on the sidewalk.

 

[bearcat]

Anyone planning to attend this?

https://www.fightforbikes.org/

 

[generalcanada]

Anyone planning to attend this?

https://www.fightforbikes.org/

Yea Id join. not sure what good its going to do.

 

[bearcat]

Anyone planning to attend this?

https://www.fightforbikes.org/

Pretty good turnout and speakers:

 

[txlseries4]

Pretty good turnout and speakers:

Far bigger turnout than I expected, and mention of another ride next month. About a dozen cops on bikes in attendance. Talk of another ride next month, though the speakers could be a bit more poignant/succinct . Really impressed this was organized by two UofT students

 

[chrisw]

I wasn't there but this video suggests much more turnout than captured in your picture @bearcat (Not blaming you)

https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/s/mGp6oQsv1S

https://twitter.com/x/status/1855342600573915206

 

[txlseries4]

From the start of it at Bloor/Christie police held the intersection for 8 minutes (2:43 to 2:51) to get all the cyclists through and a police cruiser followed with lights. Definitely felt like a much more significant crowd than last month at Queens Park.. felt like well over 1,000 showed up. Would be nice if someone took an aerial shot.

Watching the steady stream of people on bikes go pass Christie, people on foot and occasionally on bike were still crossing north-south on Bloor and everyone was just navigating around each other safely and peacefully. Doug Ford would be so unhappy

 

[TheGrimSweeper]

‘The person using that bike lane could be your doctor’: Hundreds rally to protest Ford government’s plan to remove bike lanes

The noisy but peaceful protest began with a rally at Christie Pits Park, with cyclists holding up signs saying “bike lanes save lives.”

www.thestar.com

 

[txlseries4]

Two videos of the bike rally yesterday from the start at Bloor/Christie, 20s with audio of the beginning and a 4.5x speed video (4m30s in 60s). Didn't record it with the intention of posting it anywhere or I wouldn't have faced directly into the sun... Feel free to share/repost

 

[81-717]

I think the blanket prohibition on biking on sidewalks has to end. Maybe you have to redesignate them as multi-use trails or whatever, but in a street like this, the appropriate place for a bike is not the car lane, it's the sidewalk.

If bike lanes are banned, I think we shall expect a sharp increase in the number of cyclists choosing the sidewalk, and the anti-bike crowd will only have themselves to blame, full stop (although the only way they might actually get the message is if a large number of cyclists protested the anti-bike & anti-bike-lane sentiment by all taking the sidewalk at the same time, as a group, which might not exactly be good PR for them).

When a car hits you you're not posting on urbantoronto the next day or possibly ever.

To add to this, I just watched this video, which includes this graph, specifically pertaining to cars (courtesy of Not Just Bikes):

Not only did I not expect it to be a curve akin to the inverse tan function or cubic root function (as opposed to more like a straight line), but I definitely did not expect the 50% point (and point of inflection) to be all the way at the 80 km/h mark, I would've thought it to be well before that.

 

[afransen]

If bike lanes are banned, I think we shall expect a sharp increase in the number of cyclists choosing the sidewalk, and the anti-bike crowd will only have themselves to blame, full stop (although the only way they might actually get the message is if a large number of cyclists protested the anti-bike & anti-bike-lane sentiment by all taking the sidewalk at the same time, as a group, which might not exactly be good PR for them).


To add to this, I just watched this video, which includes this graph, specifically pertaining to cars (courtesy of Not Just Bikes):
View attachment 611261
Not only did I not expect it to be a curve akin to the inverse tan function or cubic root function (as opposed to more like a straight line), but I definitely did not expect the 50% point (and point of inflection) to be all the way at the 80 km/h mark, I would've thought it to be well before that.

There are different conclusions one might draw from that chart. One is that 'only half' of people struck at 80 kph are killed. Another is that 30 kph is about the highest speed that could be compatible with high risk of pedestrian conflicts.